In Woodbury Heights fire, cops use snow to help tame flames

WOODBURY HEIGHTS — Gripe if you must, but at least one local family can say this week’s snow storm has done some good.

Several police officers on Thursday improvised early and used snow to help control a fire at a borough home.

Police and fire crews were dispatched just before 12:30 p.m. to the home at 421 Auburn St., just off Route 45. The homeowner reported seeing smoke he believed was coming from a crawl space.

Officers arrived and saw heavy smoke, police said. They evacuated the home, they said, entered to find the source and saw flames in the family room, around the fireplace.

The home’s garden hose was frozen, police said, so Police Chief George Lindsay, Investigator Gary Krohn and Ptl. Michael McCabe resorted to what was plentiful. They emptied several trash cans inside the house and started scooping into snow piles, using the cans and buckets.

Borough Fire Chief Robbie Conley said his crews arrived and quashed the rest of the fire basically with a “water can” extinguisher. They also performed overhaul, eliminating any remaining pockets of fire or sparks that could re-ignite into a whole new blaze.

The homeowner was taken to a hospital with smoke inhalation, said Conley, adding that he didn’t know of the man’s condition as of late afternoon.

The Gloucester County Fire Marshal’s Office was investigating the cause of the fire.

Conley said the police officers’ efforts helped control a fire that could have been much worse.

“The (fire in the) room was starting to pick up pretty good,” he explained.

But while things turned out for the better this time, Conley warns homeowners not to fall back on snow when it’s around, or garden hoses any other time, to put out a fire. Residents must escape and allow emergency responders to do what they do, he said.